When does a PEO make sense for a small business?

The clearest cases have a common shape: an owner doing payroll at the weekend, employees in three states with three sets of rules, or a census whose claims history makes direct quotes unaffordable. In each, the PEO is buying back time or buying access, and both are worth real money.

The weaker cases are a healthy fifteen-person group in one state with a competent bookkeeper. There, a direct group or level-funded plan plus decent payroll software usually costs less and keeps control in the building. We price both routes before recommending either.

An estimate for planning, not a quote. Medicare and the Marketplace set your real figures.